Chapter 62

Along with Ye Wenlin, dozens of drifting bottles were fished out of the small ship, containing everything from odds and ends to large checks, showing that "coming and going naked without attachments" is not a state that ordinary people can achieve.

Of course, even more things had already scattered into the depths of the universe and could no longer be found.

The atmosphere in the conference room that day was extremely solemn.

Ye Wenlin was still an injured person, the bones in his arms and legs not fully healed. When the medic pushed his wheelchair in, everyone stood up in unison, took off their hats in perfect synchronization, placed them to the side, and saluted him in silence.

"No, no," Ye Wenlin felt a bit awkward and quickly waved his hand, "Don't make it so formal, like bidding farewell to a corpse. My heart is beating a bit too fast."

Yang Ning raised his hand and pressed down: "Salute over, everyone sit."

Ye Wenlin leaned back slightly, resting against the soft backrest of the wheelchair, and said a bit lazily: "Today I'm here to give everyone a brief report on the follow-up situation of the battle for Jupiter...sigh, this chair is really too soft."

In over half a year, Ye Wenlin had wasted away until he looked like a refugee, his cheeks and eye sockets sunken. With the slightest movement, one could see the tendons and bones in his neck and hands.

Everyone waited for him to tell a story of forced smiles or heart-wrenching sorrow, but when Ye Wenlin opened his mouth, he only recited a monotonous account in chronological order.

"This spring, Mr. Robert passed away after rescue efforts were ineffective. The allied forces held a space funeral for him. On the way, the funeral fleet was ambushed by the enemy."

Ye Wenlin rested his elbows on the armrests on both sides of the wheelchair, not looking at anyone, his gaze fixed on the floor in front of him: "The funeral ship was destroyed. The Americans went berserk. The North American deputy commander-in-chief, as soon as he sat in his position, gave the first order to pursue with full force. General Zhao Youxuan tried to dissuade him to no avail. The entire allied forces chased out 230 range units. In their elite rage, they ran too fast for those behind to keep up. By the time the deputy commander-in-chief realized it, he had already lost control of the situation. The front lines were disorganized and undisciplined, stretched out like a long, thin hair."

As if reading a brief work report, Ye Wenlin spoke without stumbling or any particular emotion, yet easily took away everyone's breath.

"General Zhao Youxuan ordered our troops to hold fast at the American fortress headquarters. At this time, we discovered that communications with the other fortresses were cut off. Before we could react, the enemy from the other star system had set up an ambush midway, cutting the allied forces' long front line in two. With the allied elite forces fully deployed, it was too late to return. In a state of fragmentation, they were forced to engage the enemy."

"But even so, each country still had the strength to fight. Who knew that at this time, news came that Earth's fortress had been sneak attacked - yes, communications were cut off at the time, so we later speculated that this must have been news deliberately released by the enemy - finding themselves out of contact with their home countries, the space forces of various countries fell into chaos. Some wanted to return, others tried to break out. Their combat strength was weak, exerting only a tenth, and in the end they were defeated. The allied forces abandoned the Jupiter system, preparing to relocate."

"There were also space pirate groups..." someone said softly.

"That's right, space pirate groups suddenly appeared. We were attacked from both sides. Only then did we realize that Mr. Robert was right, the battle for Jupiter itself was a conspiracy. Afterwards, the allied forces scattered. To this day, we have not re-established contact with our comrades from various countries. The fortress was destroyed, and near-Earth defenses completely collapsed. The main forces from the other star system pursued relentlessly. We were forced to begin guerrilla warfare."

When Ye Wenlin said this, his eyes suddenly moved, as if a lifeless dummy had suddenly been infused with immortal energy. His volume was not loud, and his speech slowed down a bit: "Among them, our troops encountered a total of 236 battles and sieges, large and small, directly clashing with the enemy from the other star system 18 times. We dispatched reconnaissance ships six times, until there were no more ships to dispatch. A total of 72 people successfully infiltrated the enemy camp, none survived. One person boarded the enemy commander-in-chief's command ship. Before being captured, he copied the information he obtained onto a miniaturized storage device and sent it out in a drifting bottle."

"Our reinforcements consisted of two parts, a total of 16,342 people, of which 16,341 were killed in action. We were the vanguard and dared not hide our shortcomings. Wherever we went, we could only test the enemy's limits with our lives, recording all their garrison and control information to be entered into the storage device I gave you. It is the result of our entire army's annihilation. Gentlemen, use it well."

Having said this, Ye Wenlin thought for a moment, believing he had not left anything out in his words, and stopped. He still could not stand up, so he could only bow slightly in his wheelchair: "That's all, the special forces Dagger captain's report is complete."

With that, he did not linger. Having said his piece, he lightly turned his wheelchair, amid a slight "creaking" sound, and headed out the door.

And standing at the door was Yesi.

Yesi had always considered himself a prisoner, always having his own unruly principles - following orders, but not actively appearing, never eagerly attending meetings at the General Staff Office.

He stood with his hands in his pockets, leaning against the corridor wall. Viewed from the side, his sturdy waist appeared a bit narrow. The silver strands mixed in his blond hair at the temples, while not as noticeable as the graying of black hair in Easterners, always added a lot of desolation.

Ye Wenlin paused for a moment and solemnly greeted him: "Hello, comrade, seeing you still alive, I feel a bit relieved."

"Cut the crap, your expression clearly says 'This old bastard is actually still not dead, what a shock,'" Yesi bluntly interrupted him.

He was right. Ye Wenlin did not deny his guess. The two stared at each other for a moment, having nothing to say. Yesi suddenly asked, "So, is Zhao Youxuan really dead?"

Ye Wenlin nodded casually: "Mm."

Yesi was stunned for a moment and asked again, "How did he die?"

Ye Wenlin: "A high-energy cannon hit the power system, the entire ship was paralyzed, and the nuclear missiles that were about to launch exploded in their launch tubes."

"Oh..." After hearing this, Yesi lowered his head and thought for a long time, then said softly, "Then he really couldn't have survived."

Afterwards, he perfunctorily nodded at the people from the General Staff Office, not even lifting his eyelids. With his hands still in his pockets, he walked forward a few steps in a daze. Suddenly, he raised his head as if to make some exclamation. Just as everyone was listening attentively, this pirate leader who had fallen into the mundane world only stared at his own reflection on the shiny ceiling.

After a while, Fu Luo, who was closest to him, couldn't help but ask, "What are you looking at?"

"I'm seeing what a human relic looks like," Yesi replied. Having said that, he started humming a bizarre tune, "Su San left Hongdong County—"

Zhao Youxuan was an opera enthusiast during his lifetime. He always tried to make himself appear as a detached lover of classical arts, but he could never pull it off. No matter what, he only looked like a grandpa who drank tea and walked with his bird in the square.

Ye Wenlin continued, "Came to the main street."

Yesi turned his head and sneered, "You're off-key."

Yang Ning walked over and slowly pushed Ye Wenlin's wheelchair forward. Perhaps also recalling the days when he served as Zhao Youxuan's secretary, he said, "The old man sang the national anthem off-key. We all learned from him, it's a lineage—don't say it as if you're on-key yourself."

Yesi neither agreed nor disagreed, and continued in his original tune, "Before I speak, my heart aches. Gentlemen passing by, listen to my words."

Ye Wenlin: "Which one of you is going to Nanjing, to pass a message to my third lang..."

The two of them were not afraid of making a fool of themselves at all. One standing, one sitting, they sang in their own unique, discordant tunes, going in opposite directions. It was truly a ghastly howling that darkened the sky and earth, yet only Yang Ning listened with a straight face.

His title was "Colonel", but in reality he was the only surviving commander of the Second Department. The military's morale could not be dispersed, so his prestige could not collapse. Of course, he could not openly act like a fool like those two. So he stepped on the ground with his hard-soled military boots, "tap tap tap", as if keeping the beat.

—It is said that Su San's life was cut short. In the next life, I shall repay this debt in servitude.

Three months later, the remote communication station was successfully upgraded for the third time. The virtual communication stations, like torches passed from hand to hand, finally achieved the level of being able to contact the ground at any time, just like the fortress in those years. The signal range covered half of the solar system.

At the end-of-year summary, everyone gathered together to summarize their achievements. Fu Luo was finally promoted to A-level, with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

This meant that under Yang Ning, she had the right to lead a large escort fleet centered around a giant ship. In wartime, she officially gained the qualification of a commander.

The pirate dens she had flattened directly ensured that they would have a year of abundant supplies. Under the instigation of Ye Wenlin, this joker, a huge banner was hung in the middle of the conference room. Behind each person's name was a string of bloody little red flowers. The red flower stamps were carved from carrots, each representing a den of pirates who died with their eyes open.

On New Year's Eve, Fu Luo changed her clothes and prepared to go out for her daily work—the nice way to put it was to patrol the entire Saturn system. To put it bluntly, it was to drag out and kill the nearby wandering space pirates one by one, doing the final preparation work for their Saturn Fortress.

She was now almost as proficient as Yesi in the pirate ways. Without warning, she would kill as soon as she arrived, and leave immediately after killing, never leaving a trace. She had already become an interstellar assassination expert.

However, when the assassination expert passed by the conference room, she was still almost blinded by the little red flowers behind her name.

Ye Wenlin was in the conference room, discussing something with Yang Ning in a rather improper manner. He saluted her, "Oh, Commander, your military exploits are glorious and will go down in history!"

Fu Luo: "...Can I not go down in history dragging a large piece of nosebleed?"

"No problem," Yang Ning heard and raised his hand to change the light and shadow effect of the banner. The little red flowers were illuminated into little green flowers. He asked Fu Luo for her opinion in a very sincere manner, "Does this look good?"

Fu Luo: "..."

Then she quickened her pace and quickly left this place shrouded in green clouds of right and wrong.

When Fu Luo returned from her patrol, the colorful carrot flowers had been taken down. It was said that the Second Department's quartermaster personally took action and kicked out her direct superior and the captain of Dagger.

Lively cartoon figures jumped on the cold command center wall, and two mischievous-looking children in red clothes were rolling snowballs, creating a new year's calendar. Looking closely, there were words in each small grid.

Usually, the calendar would have some seasonal blessings or holiday symbols written on it. Fu Luo walked closer to take a look, and saw that it said—

January: Complete the foundation work of Saturn Fortress, establish an Earth Allied Forces encirclement in response to the current situation on Earth, contact the ground, update weapons and equipment, and not let a single pirate escape.

February: Form a vanguard to go to the other star system, rendezvous with the local US military, attack α1, α2 and β star clusters in the other star system, and kill any pirates encountered.

March: Cooperate with the ground to provoke internal strife between the other star system and space pirates, cut off the enemy's supplies in the other star system, and continue to fight pirates.

April: These bastard space pirate groups, kill one when you see one, don't leave a single prisoner of war.

...And so on.

Fu Luo: "..."

How festive this calendar was, exuding the sweet ferocity unique to the quartermaster.

"Fu Luo," Yang Ning, who had appeared at the end of the corridor at some point, called out to her and waved, "I estimated you would be back soon, come."

Fu Luo, who hadn't closed her eyes for 26 hours, perked up, thinking there was some urgent matter. She quickly walked over.

Yang Ning led her all the way into the command center. He closed the two-way communications one by one and opened the full set of holographic images. The near and far planets moved along their established orbits, and a 3D projected blue planet slowly rotated at the center of the console—that was Earth.

Fu Luo thought he was going to talk about the deployment, but Yang Ning pulled out a tray from under the console with a transparent insulated lid on it, inside which was a small cake.

"Here," Yang Ning said.

Fu Luo: "..."

Her expression was a bit subtle. If it had to be described, it was "terribly frightened".

"The quartermaster baked it," Yang Ning avoided her gaze and explained the origin of this thing in a lame attempt to cover it up. He also advised, "Hurry up and eat it, don't let Captain Ye see it."

...No, has that man, Ye, already become a food-mooching expert now?

"Every time there's a holiday at my home, it's not private time. There are many guests coming and going, making it bustling and annoying," Yang Ning saw her take it over and smiled faintly, as if there was a smile and as if there wasn't. "There's not even time to eat. When I was young, I would fill my stomach with tea, and when I grew up, I would fill my stomach with alcohol. At night, Madam Yang would use this kind of small thermos to hide a piece of dessert or soup that her children loved to eat and send it to them. I always pretended not to know, but I was very envious."

Fu Luo was already hungry to the point of being empty inside and out. She took a big bite, her cheeks bulging, and listened silently without making a sound.

"Later, every time I went on a long trip, I would carry a few thermoses with me. Although most of them were not used, I felt a strong sense of security just by looking at them." Yang Ning lowered his head and looked at the deep blue Earth projection.

Yang Ning knew that he and Fu Luo were different. In the past, Fu Luo regarded space as a dream, while he regarded space as a place of fame and fortune for power struggles.

He didn't like the dark universe at all, but... there seemed to be nothing else to do.

At that time, everything that supported him was to one day trample Yang Jinghe under his feet, and then let him watch with his own eyes how he would deal with that bitch Ji Tao and her sons. His life had such a narrow pursuit.

For this, he forced himself to be perfect.

Who knew that man's plans cannot compare to heaven's plans. When he was not ready, Yang Jinghe passed away, and the power he had always dreamed of pressed heavily on his shoulders in an unexpected way.

Just like ordinary people would stipulate that they cannot kill, cannot hit children, and cannot steal things.

Yang Ning stipulated that he could not be weak, could not be hesitant, and could not be at a loss.

This had already become his normal state, and sometimes he would secretly borrow a little of the missing firmness from Fu Luo.

Not letting anyone know, just secretly.

Now that he thought about it, if he had to make a far-fetched dream, he actually only hoped that when the lights were dim and the prosperity had dispersed, someone would use a palm-sized thermos to leave him a bowl of porridge.

Yang Ning: "Is it delicious?"

Fu Luo nodded: "Mm."

When he heard this, he laughed silently. Yang Ning's features were already gentle, and when he laughed, the gloom between his brows dissipated, and there was an indescribable tenderness and affection, but if you carefully distinguished it, everything seemed to be implicit.

Fu Luo suddenly felt that the atmosphere was a bit subtle. It seemed to be a kind of subtlety that could not take root in any logic, fleeting, and if she didn't grasp it, she couldn't say anything about it.

"I've said too much," Yang Ning said with a slight self-deprecation, "Go and rest after finishing your breakfast."